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I dread threads like this, but I decided not to pussy out and name everything that comes to mind, but to limit myself to selecting one game and naming three runners up per genre of my choosing. I shall bold up my picks for people who like to skim through these long posts (slackers!). So here it goes:

FPS - Arguably my favorite genre, but definitely my favorite game in the genre is Half-Life 2. In my honest opinion it still has the best FPS campaign; it raised the bar so damn high when it came out that it's yet to be surpassed. Modern FPS games need to sit down and take notes on what diversity, pacing and atmosphere are; and HL2 is the perfect teacher.

Runners up: DooM (the obvious choice, so sorry for that. But it does feed my more primal urges of carnage and slaughter), No One Lives Forever 2 (I prefer it to it's predecessor and think that it did pretty much everything better; a perfect blend of espionage parody and FPS action) and Call of Duty 2 (no joke, it's not only the best campaign in the series but also the best war themed FPS).

RPG - A love and hate genre for me that's riddled with some of the best games in creation; still the standout title will always be Baldur's Gate 2. The depth, ambition and complexity of the game are awesome to say the least; and not only in the game's core systems, but also in the writing and art design. Despite being set in the most generic of settings, the game feels truly unique in every conceivable way. No quest feels arbitrary, and some side quests in this fantasy epic could easily be the center pieces of other, lesser games.

Runners up: Diablo (I often call it the game that made me love games; unfortunately the sequel lost out on some of that delicious atmosphere that the original gave out in spades), Fallout (a truly unique and darkly hilarious game; a diamond in the rough) and Dark Souls (a standout game in the genre; it's the anti-RPG in a lot of ways, focusing on skill in combat instead of stat min-maxing, minimalistic and poetic narrative instead of walls of lore and exposition, and creative world and level design instead of the boring and cliche locales of most other games in this genre).

3rd Person Action - Such a rich and diverse genre that's riddled with outstanding games. It's hard to really cherry pick one single game here so I'll go with my gut instinct and just say Shadow of the Colossus. It's a rare game, not only in this genre but also in the whole of gaming, that plays with your heart strings and doesn't come off as forced or unjustified. The ending especially is hauntingly beautiful and melancholy; but then again it's hardly representative of what the majority of this game is truly about. It's about the pure exhilaration of climbing and besting a series of towering monstrosities.

Runners up: Metal Gear Solid 4 (apart from the eccentrically unique world design and nail-bitingly tense and diverse gameplay, MGS4 has the best presentational values of any game out there; in a lot of ways it's the perfect blockbuster videogame that also happens to be a true anime), GTA IV (a modern crime epic in every conceivable way, and the controversy that surrounded it only reinforces that claim) and Max Payne (Hong Kong action meets pulp noir to make one awesome and unique gaming experience; let's hope that Max Payne 3 can recapture some of that slow-mo magic).

Puzzle - I love puzzle games but a lot of them are very susceptible to repetitive design and gameplay. Not Portal however. The depth of this game despite of it's minimalistic design astonishes me every time I play it. And I'm not only talking about the design, story, humor and gameplay, but also about the abundant symbolism and subtext within it, and how clear and concise it is. For me, it's the first game that broke out of the confines of the medium and became a true artistic masterpiece.

Runners up: ICO (however awesome Portal might be, I can't help but feel that it also stands on the shoulders of giants as well; probably starting with this one right here), Portal 2 (still more Portal and it's still amazing; although brevity is the the soul of wit and therefore the sequel doesn't quite reach the highs of it's predecessor. Aim for the starts and you might just get to the Moon, amirite guys?) and World of Goo (such a stupidly unappreciated game; quirky and colorful design with a very engrossing and yet deceptively simple core gameplay mechanic).
Simulation - I do enjoy a good sim, and because of my love of driving I must say that Gran Turismo 5 is probably my favorite. It boasts an ungodly amount of cars, from a silly Fiat 500 to the Ferrari F1 race car. The track list is very diverse and the Gran Turismo mode is still an addictive feature that keeps me obsessing over my garage. But the truth of the matter is that I'm nuts about the game's driving model, and nothing really brings me as much joy in gaming as whizzing around Nurburgring in my suped-up bimmer.

Runners up: Silent Hunter III (dear lord what a rewarding feeling it is to sink those battleships with your torpedoes; all sexual allusions are completely on purpose, because I do think that there is some sexual release going on here. It's very orgasmic, since you work very hard for every torpedo launch, and when you hit the mark it's usually over in seconds), IL-2 Sturmovik (even after all these years it remains the ww2 flight sim to play; primarily because of it's unparalleled flight model) and PES 4 (it was THE football sim on the PS2, and although better football games have come out since none of them have provided as many sleepless nights as this one).

Indie - I find it a bit unfair to lump all these outstanding games under a single category since I firmly believe that there's no quality gap between an average AAA title and a small-time downloadable game, but then again how would one categorize some of these? Take my top choice for example: Minecraft. Is it a FPS? Hardly. But whatever it might be, it's quite amazing. It borrows the best parts of lego (the building), removes the annoying part (the limited supply) and adds an insane amount of other fun features on top; including survival, crafting and my favorite, exploration. It's a marvel of human creativity and quite possibly a glimpse in to the future of gaming.

Runners up: Super Meat Boy (Charming, hilarious and tough as nails; it's the game that gladly points out that there's a little masochist in all of us. In my opinion it's the best 2d platformer since the SNES days), The Binding of Isaac (what makes Isaac such a great game, apart from it's amazing and addictive gameplay elements, is the morbid humor. It's a game that's got a pair and is ready to go there, all for our amusement) and Braid (I'm not going to praise this game for it's "artistic" merits because too much has already been made of too little in my opinion. But Braid still remains a top game, primarily because of the gameplay mechanics and the delightful art style and score).

Multiplayer - Everyone enjoys besting a fellow human being in a competitive manner, and I am no exception. But I prefer to see it done in a humorous way while my opponents limbs and entrails are flying all over the place, so there's little surprise that Team Fortress 2 gets the nod here. The game is all about fun, and is not rage inducing like some of it's genre counterparts. I'm also one of the people who wholeheartedly embraces the hats and items and whatnot, as long as it stays mostly cosmetic and does not get in the way of the fun.

Runners up: EVE Online (my time in EVE was short, but extremely rich and eye-opening. I love the idea of a player driven universe and EVE has really lived up to it's ambitions. If I ever returned to MMO gaming, I'd return to this one), Left 4 Dead 2 (I'm a sucker for FPS coop and L4D2 is the top game for that, no competition. Everything about it is spot on, from the humor to the excessive and satisfying gore) and World of Warcraft (this monster claimed years of my life, and I might never forgive it for that. But it's still the best closed MMO out there).

Since I have little liking for games of the strategic sort I decided not to make a long post even longer by blathering about something I have no idea about. But I will say that I do quite enjoy the Civilization games and think that RollerCoaster Tycoon needs mentioning as well (even though it's not strictly a strategy game).

Best "great game despite bugs and lack of content": KOTOR II
Best Everything: Deus Ex
Best crashes: Burnout Paradise
Best Walking Sim: Morrowind
Best use of an amnesiac protagonist: Planescape Torment
Best "That's not an RPG" RPG: Alpha Protocol
Best Bad Game: Path of Neo
Best Voice Over: X-Men Legends 2's Colossus

I don't know, dude. There's nothing on that page that is a long standing notion of me. Having said that, I'd happily accept this term if it means we can dump half of all action RPGs into it. It would suit The Elder Scrolls series, Fallout 3 and New Vegas.

I don't know, dude. There's nothing on that page that is a long standing notion of me. Having said that, I'd happily accept this term if it means we can dump half of all action RPGs into it. It would suit The Elder Scrolls series, Fallout 3 and New Vegas.

Maybe not Oblivion due to the extreme funneling and issues with "elaborate and believable game world" but otherwise, yeah I guess most of these games if the AI's behaviour was a little better as to allow more than just "kill your way to room B" to be valid methods, But hell, I'd totally ban Bioshock from it. Bioshock is a shooter with a a few cool things, but that's all it really is.